Jeffrey Don Lundgren, Prophet of Death

From the beginning, Jeff Lundgren had promised his followers he would take them to see God. To make the journey, he said, the cult first had to seize the Kirtland Temple and kill anyone who tried to stop them. However, as time went on, Jeff began to revise this plan and claimed to have a vision. A vision that told him the sacrifice of the Avery family would be enough for the group to reach their goal. Jeff felt Cheryl Avery was headstrong and that her children were unruly. Dennis was beginning to question Jeff's teachings during class. No one ever questioned Jeff's word and the others in the group could not understand why Dennis could not comprehend the potentially lethal ramifications of his actions. The group considered all the traits the Avery family showed as extremely sinful. In Jeff's eyes, their death would cause the others to fear and respect him. It was time to show the group just how far he was willing to go in order to obtain his goal of total domination.

On April 10, Jeff decided to put his plan into action and ordered Keith and Ron to begin digging a pit in the barn to conceal the bodies. The men were instructed to make certain that they were out of the barn whenever Dennis was around the house. They made plans to abandon the farm after the murders were committed. They instructed the women of the house to begin packing all of the belongings. Jeff informed the Averys that the group was going on a wilderness retreat and that they should prepare to leave Kirtland.

The roughly six-feet by seven-feet by four-feet pit took four days to complete.